stor'f paper collect

STOR'f PAPER

COLLECT<)RS' DIGEST Vol. 41 No. 482 FEBRUARY 1987

A JAL£ Of TH[ RHONDDA VALLEY •

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. : ·'/ ;, I 111111111 I' , '.

1 ~;Jack , !!?· & -=>, '

vos.~_ ..-.;:-.. ~N•w .....:1· _---!. ' ™1&....., ~ - .

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Many of my customers are Doctors, Members of Parliament, and Academic Gentlemen, etc., who wish to get away from the realities of life. How they enjoy theii visits.

Recent purchases include 480 bound volum es of the Magnet, Gem, Modern Boy, Union Jack, Thriller, Dreadnought, and others. Some curiously bound with numbers missing or minus covers. Going cheap!

Stocks are as BIG AS EVER. Sorry, can't do lists - stock much too large. YOUR wants lists, please.

Working on a very tight profit margin I can offer customers really good value. Shop around if you are not sure. I don't have to chase for customers; they chase me. Terms as usual; payment on receipt of goods; prompt payments appreciated.

Why not pay a visit to Aladdin's Cave? You are very welcome . Please give me a ring.

Lots of bargains at special prices for quantmes. Another big collection to buy again soon. A good postal service.

All Howard Baker facsimile and Book Club Specials. Full range of these in stock. Lists of these.

NORMAN SHAW

84 Belvedere Road London S.E.19 2HZ

Tel. 01-771-9857

Nearest station is Crystal Palace

---- STQR"'( PAPER

COLLECT<JRS' DIGEST STORY PAPER COLLECTOR

J;'",.,. •• _,1,,,,1 ;._ ·1 QA I hu I VUIIU'CU Ill I "*t I UJ

W. H. GANDER

COLLECTORS' DIGEST fo unded in 1946 by

HERBERT LECKENBY

STORY PAPER COLLECTORS ' DrGEST: Edited and Publishec (1959 - 1987) by ERIC f A YNE

VOL. 41 No. 482 FEBRUARY 1987 Price 52~

(COPYRIGFIT. This magazine is private?ly circu lated . The repr oduot ion to the content~ either wholly or. in part, without \vritten penn.is~;ion fran The Edito r, is strictl 1 forbidden . )

BOWE EN

01JRSEL\'I§

A TRIBUTE •••

lt is w i th a deep sense of re sponsibility (as well as with some trepidation) that I take on the editorshi p of our much loved C.D . To follow in the footsteps o!f it s founder Herbert Leckenby, and of Eric Fayne, who has so devot edly edited it for over 27 years, is a cha llenging task and r must ask your indulgence if my eff orts fall short of their distinguished achievements.

I am sadly conscious of Jacking Eric's encyclopaedic knowledge of the hobby, and his long-reach in g memories of events and personalities associated with the old papers.

On the occasion of the C.D. ' s recent Ruby issue several of us paid tribute to Eric 1s dedication a:nd expertise , and now thai he is relinquishing the editorial chair it is again appropriate to convey t o him our deepest thanks and appreciation. So many tribute s hav e come through my letter-box for him t his month, that this issue could be devoted entirely to them. I have had to make a selection which, as you will see, appears now; later on, perhaps, we shall be able to publish more of them .

I am delighted that aithough Eric has asked me to take over as editor he has promised to continu e to play an active part in the C.D . He will write something for every issue, and thus remain a strong influence on the magazine, as well as a counsellor, confidant and friend to its new editor .

.•. AND AN APPEAL

r have been a C.D. reader and a memb er of the Old Boys' Book Club for 17 years - yet [ often still have the fee ling of bei ng a 'new girl' in the hobby . I hope, therefore, that many readers will dig into their store of memories of our favourite papers and support the C.D. by writing for it . This is a ferven t plea to regular contributors to keep their articles coming, and to any potential new writers to put the i r pens (or preferably typ ew riters) to paper on any subjects of special interest to them.

Ideas and suggest ions wilJ always be welco me - and I feel sure that r can look forward to your support. Don't forg et , too, that it helps the C.D. when you advertise your 'wants' or ' for sales' in it .

CHILDHOOD REMEMBERED

Recentl y, when reading an anc ient and battered copy of the Girl s' Crystal on a train journey, J realized that the co uple sitting next to me w ere surpr ised - and slightly pitying - t o see a far from young lady so immersed in a schoolgirl s' paper .

r'm sure they thought I was read ing a child's 'comic', and that I must therefore be an extremely backward reader with a low I.Q. Snippet s o f their conversation suggested that th ey were the sort of people who had long ago and ve ry fully 'put away childish thing s'.

l couldn't he lp reflecting on what they were mis sing! I rememb er ed how, some time soon after t he last wa r, I fe l t

I'd grown up, and must get rid of my remainin g children's annual s

(the weekly papers, alas, had by then long since been di sposed of ).

So I put away my so-ca lled c hildish books . Like so many of us,

of course, r lived t o regret this when, years later , my inte rest in

the Magnet, the Schoolgirl and ot her papers wa s happily rekindled.

When I began - a quart er of a centur y after r th ought I'd out

grown them - to read aga in of t he Famous Fiv e and Barbara Redf ern

& Co., I was intr igued at how we l l their exp lo i t s stood up to adult

appraisal . One cou ld be c riti cal about t he stories ' cli ff - hanging

contriva nces, bizarre coinci dences and occasional st ereotyping of

chara c ters - but on t he whol e plots were amazi ngly inve nt ive, an

exc i t ing range of friendships anid r ivalr ies was co mpulsiv e ly presented,

and the auth ors t ol d their tales wi th tre mendous skill. Above al l, they ex pressed innocence, ide al ism and an opt i mi stic

outlo ok. Than k heaven we can st ill read them, and Jet them colour

our liv es, to day.

MA RY CADOGAN YOUR NEW EDITOR

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

ERIC FAY NE APPRECI ATIONS

FROM ROGER JENKINS, London 0 .8.B.C.

I t must have co me as a cons iderable shock to reader s of

Collectors' Di gest to lea rn tha1t Er ic Fayne, who had so magni fic ent ly

managed our cheri shed magaz in e for all t hese years, has now decided

t ha t the ti me has come to hand over the re ins to his successo r .

Eric has ref err ed to the fact that t he founder of th e magazin e,

Herb ert Leck enby, he ld on t oo long, but he has modestl y forgot te n

to mention the enor mous diffi c ulties that he inherited when he f irst

took over with No. 155 in November 1959, follow ing the f irs t edi to r' s

sudden death the pre vious month. Herbert wa s a real old Yorkshire

chara cte r, an excellen t writer and an enterpri sing editor, but - and

it is no det ractio n from all h is achieve ment s to say this - he was

an inadequat e business man. He never removed a subscri ber ' s name

from his mailing list, whether he paid or not, and as a consequence the ear ly Collectors' Dige sts contained repeated editorial complaints about unpaid subscriptions, tho ugh many of these vital reco rd s seem never to hav e been committed to paper. All these financial problems had to be tackled by Eric as well as the formidable task of assuming the editorship. There were proph ets of doom when Her bert founded the magazine ("You will never get enough mat er ial to last for mor e than a few issues") and equally there were Jerem iahs around when Eric took over ("Nobody can rep lace Herbert") but all were triumphantly confounded. Even the typists at the York Agency at that time to ld me that they enjoyed working for the Collector's Digest, as it was such a chang e from th e church magazine s that they then specialised in.

The Digest has an unparal'leled record of regular publicat ion, in view of th e fact that it is only an amateur maga ·zine, and in term s of yea r s it has already excee ded the life-spans of the Magn er and Gem. Eric has carefully nurtured its two essential quali ties: regu lar monthl y issues and material restricted to the hobb y. Of the first quality, Gerry Allison once remarked to me that the magazine at the beginning of the month and the OBBC meetings towards the middle of the month all kept int erest tic k1ng over nicely. So far as the second quality is concerned, one has on ly to think of magazines that attempted to widen their scope int o other kinds of coilecting, like stamps or match-box labels, to reaHse what a recipe for di saster that was.

Eric has also modestly said nothing about the chores of being a single-handed edito r, o f typing mater ial, checking proofs, awa1t10g the par ce ls from York, and then addressing all the envelo pes, packing them, and putting them in the post himself - too many to go int o a Letter-box, of co urse . He has said little about the personal sacr ifices he has made over these twenty-seven years or more , how holidays had telescoped th emse lve s into day-trips and how bis personal life was continually b eing eroded by the inexorable demands of the magazine. It is probable that few subscr ibers realise just how much of himself Eric has given to th e Collec tor' s Digest for mor e than a quarter o f a century.

Herbert had certainly been wise when he nominated Eric as his successor, Just as Er ic has made a perceptive choice in asking Mary to take over, and as we an express our heartfelt thanks to Eric for hi s unr ivalled achievements, le t us also extend our gratitude and be st wishes to Mary, who assumes the mantle of ed i to r with

this issue. She is a professional writer of considerable acclaim, and Eric's cho ice is an eminently suitable one. Long may the Collector's Dig est thrive!

FROM MARGERY WOODS, Scal ,by, Yorks.

The arrival th is morning of the first issue in 1987 of our favo ur ite magazin e brought a shock which rapidly wiped the happy, musing smile of nostalgia off my fac e. Our beloved Editor was retiring. Thi s was to be hi s last Skipper's Chat.

I didn't like what 1 was reading at all. My fir st instinct was to sit down straight away and write my protest : You can't do this to us, Eric. What will happen to our magazine ?

And then T realised th e sheer selfishness of such an instinct. For while we hav e all enjoyed our greatly loved CD dropping unfaillngly through our lette r-boxe s duri ng the first week of every month how often have we reflected seriously on the amount of unseen work behind Eric's marve llou s editorial record? How many hour s have been dev oted to preparing the copy for each issue and ensuring that each month' s deadlin e wa s met? Hours when perhaps Eric sometimes wished he could re lax in front of the fire, take a warm and purring Princess Spowee on to hi s knee and read a favourite book. But no, copy had been late in retlching him, or was not sufficient, and th e typescript had to reach t he printer by th e weekend. So the fir e, and the favourit e book, and the disappointed Princess Snowee would have to wait a while. Yes , the past tw enty -eight years hav e been a tr emendous labour of Jove.

Thank you, Eric, for all th e pleasur e your hard work and devotion to The Hobby have brought to so many. ft is no small achievement to have created so strong a sense of belonging in so many peopl e of differ ent ages and so wide a rang e of occu pations, drawing us all int o a lov ely circle of friend ship.

Y es, we shall write to yo u, be sure of tha t . And we'll give loyal support to Mar y --- t he on ly writer [ can think of who could take over these very spec ial reins. So wel co me, Mary, and our Jove to you alwa ys, Er ic , sure ly now our Edit or Emeritu s.

FROM DARRELL SWIFT, North1ern O.B.B.C

Over the past yea rs Eric has achieved the i mpossible - how on earth he has produ ce d a magazi ne like the C.D., month after month, year after year to such a high standard, beats me... T have some idea of the amount olf work involved in pr oduc ing such a

magazine - the frustrations and anxieties .•• Eric has done an abso lut ely

rn arvel lous job ove r t he past 28 years. I know I speak on behal f of a ll members at Northern 0.8.B.C. ...•

How delighted we are to be closely associated with the magazine:

it started in the North of Eng!and1 is sti ll printed in Yorkshire, and

now our Club's Co-President is the Editor! Welco me, Mary, and

we wish you all the best in the Editorial Chair .

FROM BILL THURBON of the Cambridge Club

It was with great sadness that J read of Er ic 's farewell in the

Digest . He has done a wonderful job, and kept al ive , am id difficulties,

the work so well begun by Her bert . Jack Overhill and ot her members

of the Cambridge Cl ub jo in me in grat i tude for all that Eri c has

done over these long years for our Hobby . May I also say th at in

laying down the editorial task he has passed it on to one who will

continue the t ru e spirit of our loved 'Dig est '. Let me conclude with the wish that Eric may long be spared

to remain associated with the 'Di gest ' , even In his successor ' s hands,

and with Ki plin g' s pra ise of famou s men:

'For their work continueth And their work continueth Broad and deep continueth Greater than the ir knowing .

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WANTED Story Paper Collector by Bill Gander. All Numbers 1

to 95. Would pay 45p each . P. GALVIN, 2 THE LINDALES, POGMOOR, BARNSLEY, S. YORKS.,

S75 2DT.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Various pre-war duplicate 0 .8.B. s, Nelson Lee Library 0/S and N/S .

Few S.B.L., Union Jacks, etc. Exchange for similar or would consider

cigarette cards. 8 copies of "Merrywell Ser ies'' Pub. New York,

c .1 927. 800 cop ies of 1960's Boys ' Story Papers, e.g. Hotspur, Hornet,

Wizard, etc . Further details (stamp appreciated):

K. TOWNSEND, 7 NORTH CLOSE, WILLINGTON, DERBY,

DE6 6EA.

FEBRUARY 1937

An averag e month, so far as the monthlies are concerned. The Grey friars story in the Schoolboys' Own Librar y is '1Harry Wharton's Rival" . Stories with Wharton in th e lead are always good, and thi s one is no exception . Colonel Wharton impresses on his nephew thal they must not be ext ravagant as money is a bit tig ht. Owing to a set of c ircumstan ces , Harry comes on a scrap of a letter written by the Colonel, in which th e Colonel says "Certainly no man can be expect ed co bear for ever the burden of a thoughtless, selfis h, and ungrateful nephew -- ". So Wharton gets the idea tha t he is a "burden" to his uncle . He decid es to break away from the family, and to sit for th e Founder's Scholarship so that he can be respo nsibl e for his own fees at Greyfriars.

He has a migh ty quarr e l with the Bounder, and, at the end of the st ory, Vernon-Smith becomes Junior Captain in Wharton's place. Thi s is a good tale, and it goes on next month.

The next tale in the S.0.L. is "Th e School for Slackers'', a st ory about High Coombe School, where the school has ''dry rot". But a new Headmas te r, Jimm y McC ann, takes over , and brings about changes. I remember reading these High Coom be stories before in Modern Boy.

The third S.0.L. is "The Spendthrift of St. Frank's". The Hon. Douglas Singleton, a new boy at St. Frank's , is worth a quarter of a million pounds, and he pro cee ds to waste his wealth in a manner which leaves the St. Frank' s chaps gasping.

In the Boys; Friend Library l had "The Black Mole'' by George E. Rochester, all about the invention of a giant tank that can burrow underground like a mol e. And in the Sexton Blake Library I had "The Case of the Murdered Finan cier" by John Creasey. Thi s is a terrifi ca lly exciting st ory and 1 enjoyed it.

England, who started . off weii by winning the fjrsr two 1~esr Matches in Australia, are not doing so wel.l now. In t he Third Te st which was play ed at Melbourne, Australia won by 365 runs - quite a victory . And in the Fourth Test which was played at Adelaide, Australia won by 148 runs . So the score to date is two wins each, and the fate of t he Ashes will depend on the last game whi ch star t s next month .

The Modern Boy is not all that hot just at the mom ent, though the Captain Justice stories by Murray Roberts are good. First Justice tale of th e month is "Myst ery Ship'', wi t h Justice, in the Flying Cloud, search ing for Professor Fla znagel. Nex t week brought "Th e Milli on Pound Prisoner" with Justic e still searching in the Yellow Sea for the missing Professor . The theme goes on next week with "Pi rates ' Lair". And, final of the month, "The Pira te Chief" in which Ca pt. Justice and Co. invade Yong Huey's strongh old, still in search of Professor flaz.nagel.

Also in Modern Boy ther e by Kaye Campson. Christopher speed fiends have designed th e it "The Silent Torpedo". Ther e a white boy in the African wilds. be T ouch ed".

is a new motor-bike racing ser ies and Columbus, two you ng, hard - up finest motor-bike ever - they call is a new seria l "Tabu Dic k" about He is called "The Boy Who Mustn't

There has been a bad railway di saster at Sleaford where an express jumped the rails. fou r platelayers were killed, and some passengers on the train wer e injured.

In the Magnet they are giving away Free Gifts ih the form of photogravure cards of Britain's Defender s.

Throughout the month the barring-out seri es about the reb ellion against Mr. Hacker, the temporary Headmast er, has contin ued. don't thin k it has really been a very good series . A good barringout needs plenty of drama, but th is one is mainly slapstick, and it is too far-fetched .

First tale of the month was "The No-Surrender Schoolboys", i n which the boy s barricad e themselves up in the school tuckshop. The front cover shows Mr. Hacker bound and gagged in a chair.

Next week brought "Holding the Fort" in which Mr . Hacke r

For long. Vernon-Smith, th.: Hounder of Creyfriars, h:rs cast covetous eyes 011 tbr: captaincy of the Remove. And when trouble falls on Harry Wharton, the skipper, . 1he Boundu seizes his ch.i.nce. Look out for this great yarn -it grips the interest from siart lo finish.

called in Police-Constable Toz er plus a gang of loca l boozer s and bru ise rs. Then, next week , ca me "The fighting Form" in which Mr . Hacke r tells Wingat e to "B end Over'', and the Greyfriars Captain rep lied "D on't be an ass!"

Finall y "T he Pri soner of the Stronghold" which has a cover showing Mr . Hacker, in mortar - board and apron, washing-up the dirty crocks for the reb els. And Vernon - Smith punches Mr . Hacker full in the face. Then Mr. Quelch turned up - and it wa s all over . T hank goodness. All roo farfetched by half, which l can't remember ever feeling before over a Magnet series .

A jolly good month in th e local picture pala ces, starting off with fr ene Dunne, Allan Jones, and Paul Robeson in "Show Boat", a story of the lives of the peo ple on the old Mississippi show boats. Some love ly songs in it, and a good story .

Mighty fine is "Mutin y on the Bounty" starring Charles Laughton; Clark Gable, and Franchot Tone. Splendid, adventure at its very

best . Charles Laughton was al so on thi s month, thi s tim e with Elsa

Lanchester, in " Re mbrandt", the l ife sto ry of th e famous I. 7th century

painter . This one is high ly prais ed by everyon e - i t is a Briti sh

pictur e - but I, personall y , like t he Mutiny one better.

Rather a weird film was Li onel Barrymor e in "The Dev il Dol l",

about a man w ho escaped from Devi l ;s Island, and disgui sed him seif

as a woman selling doll s which murder th ose who sent him t o pri son.

Charlie Chaplin had a girl named Paul e tt e Goddard wit h h im

in "M odern Times" . It has sound, bu t no dial ogue, and is nothin g

l ike so fu nny as his shorter com edy pictur es were. A bit slow but quite amusi ng was "Th e Man Who Co uld Wor k

Mira c les'' starring Rol and Yo ung. He find s he has the gif t to work

mira c les, a gift given hi m by a sport y ange l. And then "San F ranc isco" . Ever y other film pales into insigni

fican ce besid e this one. Set in 1906 at t he tim e o f th e earthqu ake,

it star s Clark Gable, Spencer T racy , and Jeannette Mac donald -

and i t is a trul y lovely film all th e w ay thr ough. A good month in the Gem, whic h sta r ted off with "The How ;e-

master1 s Peril". Thi s one fa about a madman who com es to t he

neighb our hood of St . Jim' s to hav e reveng e on Mr. Railton.

A very good school stor y is "The Fighting Prefect" in whi ch

Mr. Ratcliff is th reatened by an Old Boy who comes bac k to St .

Jim's to give his old master a hiding . The master i~ f-aved by

Darrell, whom he has tr eated r ather meanl y. Th en cam e "The Secre t Socie t y o f St . Jim ' s''. Kn ox, the pre

fec t , becomes very obnoxious, until a Secret Societ y take s a hand.

final of the Gem' s month is "The Return of the Taff ". Having

forsak en his lif e of c rime, Talbot woul d give anything to be bac k

with hi s fr iends at St. J im's. But he is a fugitiv e, hunted by Scot land

Yard, till a brav e deed earns him the King' s Pardon. Great tal e.

The love ly old Greyfriar s t ales fr om the early Magnet carr y

on in th e bac k page s of the Gem. Thi s mont h several weeks have

been devoted t o one of my gr eat fav ourit es among those earl y Gr ey

fr iars tales . I t is "Th e Faddi st Form - master" and tell s how a di et

fanatic, Mr . Chesham, beco mes ma ster of Lhe Remove for a whil e.

Lovel y . A chap at scho o l gave me t he newi sh paper, The Pilo t , whi ch

has th e start of a new ser .ies entitled "Will Hay at Bendover" . Good

fun, in a way, but not really my cup o f tea . And Doug bought a Thriller thi s month whi ch cont ained a Les lie C harteri s sto ry "T he

Ret urn of the Sai nt" .

ERIC FAYNE COMMENTS ON THlS MONTH'S "DANNY'S DIARY"

S.O.L. No. 289 "Harry Wharton, ' s Rival" comprised three-and-a - bit stories of the 7-story Harry Wharton ser ies of e arly in 1:932. 1932 had been Wharton ' s ye ar with a veng .eance , for , later on , in the autumn of that year, was to come the seco nd Wharton-Rebel series , a. bi g highlight of Magnet history. ''Harry Whart on ' s Rival " reads quite well i n the s.o .L., but , in parts, it lost qu ite a few c hapters of the origina l .

S . O. L. No. 290 "Tbe School for Sl ackers" was un u sua ll y re cent fo r: the S . O.L. Lt compr is ed 9 stories of High COOllnbe which had appeared in Mcx:lern Boy through the sp rin g of 1935 , le ss than b'O yea,rs earli e r.

l)anny's readin g of th e Sex t on Bl ake story "The case o f the Murdered Financi er" remin ds us that John Cr:easey wro te a ha ndful of sto dE;!s for the Sexto n Blake Library. I wonder that one of our Blake enthusiasts has not written a critique of these Blake . tales f or our Blakiana col'Uf11Il. A chance for one of the f ans no11.'?

rn the 1937 Gem, "The fhlsernas ter ' s Peril" was a sub story whi ch had appeared under the same title , in the Gem c, [ very early in 1914 . "The Fighting Prefect " had appeared, a lso unde r the same title , i n mid - September of 1914 , which was, of course , a gco:l many weeks after tbe start of the First World War . This excel l e nt t ale of the old boy, Stoke r , who c ame back to cane his old schoolnester, had it s theme i;ised aga in , I feel sure, in a much lat er Magnet story, though I ca nno t r,eca ll i t spe cifi ca lly .

'I'he 1937 tale , "The Secret Society of St . J .i_m's " had been "The Secret Corrmittee " the follo.,.., ing week in 1914 .

The 1937 s tor y "The Return of the 'l'off " had been ' 'The Kin g ' s Pardon'' in the la te autumn of 19 14 . Jt is i nter esting to exami ne i t for a rroment. Most of the stor a es open for reprin t i ng nc,w had a distinct war flavour , and they needed a fair amount of revisi ng to 11'13ke them suitabl e f or 1937 . Some had too much war flavour f or t.he rn t o be used at aJ_l. In the original tale "The King ' s Parclon" , 'l'all;x:>t had been pardoned for sav i ng a troop tra i n f r01n being wrecked by a German spy. ln the rep rint, Elbe r fe l t , th:? German spy , became Gonzales , a Span i sh spy; the Great War was changed t o the Spanis h Civ il War , going str on g in 1937 . Qui te a neat trans i t ion .

Of the films whic h Dann y saw in February 193 7 , two of them , "Show Boat" and "Mutiny on the . Bounty" wer e re - ·made years later , after t h e war , and neither was a patch on the or i g inal, d espite the new ve rsions be ing in colour .

''The Faddish Fa .rm-Master" , whioh Danny was enjoying at the back of the Gem, was one of the best knO'N11 of ea rl y Greyfriars stories - a minor "cl ass ic" , in fact . It had appeared twice in the Popul a..r:, each time a s "The Faddist FormMaster:". It appeared under that title in the very early days of the s. o.L. Yet, when I searched for that title , for the purpose of these notes , in th e early Magnet , 1 could not find it. T trace:d it eve ntually. I t compris ed 3 halfpenn y Magnets i n 1908, unde r the .respe ctive t itl es "The Grey f riar s Riot" , "Four on the Warpath ", and "The Triump h of ti-ii~ Remove" .

': I BLAKIANA H1i):)!~ ,------u-----

/

SEXTON BLAKE AND THE KITCHEN SINK! by J.E.M.

That drab and dreary period just after World War Two - the "austerity years" as they have been called - found a reflect ion in both art and entertainment . "Socia l Realism" became one of the new fashions : glamour was out, every day rea lity was in. Artist s painted pictures of kitchen sinks and i t wasn't long before drama t ists were writing their "kitch en sink" plays. Even the cine ma was affected. It Always Rains On Sunday, a fi Im made in 1947 (and how well i ts very title hits off the general mood) concerned a cr .iminal on the run seeking sanct uary in his old East End haunts which were port rayed with a realism new to the English screen.

Examp les of this 40-year-old t rend are cou ntl ess and it is not surprising that Sexton Blake himself was influenc ed by it . The master of what might be called Blak e 's "kitchen sink " cases was probably Lew is Jackson who turne d out a number of impres sive thrillers with stark and sombre backgrounds . Towards the end of the war itse lf , he wrote The Trail of the five Red Herr ing s (SBL, 3rd seri es, No. 1 O I) in which a group of ex-servicemen pool their skills t o carry out large- scale robb ery. The point of the ta le is that they are ordinar y men of humble origin persuaded by a g l ib leader that society is indifferent to their war-time sacrifices . Needless to say, the ir crimes are frustrated by Bla ke who recovers the spoils but ensures that these essentially amateur crooks recei ve the minimum punishment (two of them "get away with it" ahogether) .

Thi s story was decidedly in tune with its time , touching not on ly on social problems but suggesting there 1s a natura l justjce going beyond the courts. Blake, i ndeed, act uall y breaks the law to help these misguided men (on al least one occas ion Sherlock Holmes did something very similar). If Blake's role in Jack son' s ta le is unusual, so also is t he down-to-earth setting. T his is a tough, gr itt y and mem orab le item from the casebook.

Page JS

Jn 1946 came Down East_ (SBL No. 122) and The Case of the Night Lorry Driver (SBL No . 126), the titles nicely indicating the flavour of the storie s. Down East has a working-class heroine pestered by a f !ashy, smal I- t im e crook while her husband is supposedly serv ing abroad as a soldie r. T he situation is not quite what i t seems and i t is not long before Sext on Blake becomes invo lv ed in cri minal matters far from London's slums, bu t it is the East End atmospher e which leav es the stronge st imp,ression. The Case of the Night Lorry Driver, which I have already written about (Digest No. 442) also has a workada y background with unglamorous peopl e (both honest and otherwi se) in leading rol es: an outstanding Blake yarn by any measure.

The foJJowing yea r Jack son wrote The Night of the 23rd (SBL No. 155) which opens with a domestic shooting in a squalid area of dockland - real "kit chen si nk" stuff! Though t he action is soon broadened to include more spect uacular skulduggery, the back -cloth of mean st reet s and t he peopde who live in them makes the most co mpelling contribution to th e tale.

No doubt Jack son was not the only Blake writer in this period ro produce stories with similar th emes and settings but the tales I have refe rr ed to could hard ily be improved upon as examples of th eir ki nd. If, as I have said, th ey are very much of t heir t ime they ar e none t he worse for that. They also show Blake at hi s most human , recalling the best Gwyn Evans ya rn s, as well as providing liv e ly and unusual ent ertainment. So, the next t i me you want a cha nge from ope ra cloa ks and swordsti cks , locked-r oom mysteries, Chinese secret societies, exotic foreign :5ettings, or th e would-be sophistication of the later Blake, why not t r y these examples from th e "kit chen sink " section of th e great casebook? You will not be disappointed .

(Footnote: [ am indebted to Christ opher Lowder for recommending me to this period of Lewis Jackson ' s writing, though of cou rse he can't be hel d responsible for any vie ws expre ssed here!)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WANTED: Girls' Crystal Annu al! 1940. Popular Book of Girls' Stor ies 1935, 1936, l 941. Also Biddy's Secret: Maidlin to the Rescue, by E. Oxenham , Mi stress Mar iner: : Sally's Summer Term by D. F. Bruce. The Chal et School and Rosalie by E. Brent - Dy er.

MARY CADOGAN, 46 OVERBURY AVENUE, BECKENHAM, KENT, BR3 2PY.

SENT TO COVENTRY by Jim Cook

One of the cruellest forms of puni shmen t inflicted on a schoolboy by his fellow students is 'sending him to Coventry' and the theme was often used in the stories of St. Frank' s. But l have seen this form of banishment by popular vote on the factory floor, in of fices, etc., and sometimes it can occur from a rumour or a mild peccadillo that is blown out of an proporti on.

The schoolboy who boards at a public school who is thus ostracised wiJI suffer more than the office worker or the factory mechanic, for the boy is necessarily confined to the schoo l limits.

The origin of sending a victim to Coventry is said to begin in the Great Rebellion times when the citizens of Coventry once had so great a dislike of soldiers that a woman seen speaking to one was instantly tabooed, according to Brewer's Dict ionary of Phrase and Fable.

It is very strange that thi s boyco tting a person should now persist everywhere where the English language is spoken.

No doubt other countries have their particular kind of studied ostracism, but sending a person to Coventry seems to have reached the far ends of the Earth.

The duration of being sent to Coventry as written in the stories of St. Frank's depend ed on circumstances. And it wasn't always confined to fellows who were hith erto very unpopular.

Nipper was at one period falsely accused of attacking a senior when Nipper was at t he very height of popularity, but the senior's ev id ence was accepted and Nelson Lee's famous assistant was up for expulsion. He was also sent to Coventry by the majority of juniors and seniors.

ft was a dreadful tl me for the captain of the Remove since he was innocent. But besides being accuse d of something he hadn't

done, and sentenced to be exjpe ll ed, many former friends banished him by the cut direct.

Other forms of school boy punishment are when they inflict such derogatory expressions as funk or co ward. And usually the term is quickly taken up and spread around, even though it may not be tr ue.

It leads me to ask whether sendi ng a boy to a Boarding Schoo l will make a man of him. Inh erent disabilities or congenital weaknesses may create ci rcum stances: that will be misconstrued by schoolboys, and you have your ' funk' oir 'coward'.

Sometimes the 'term in Coventry' can last a long tim e. To some it is mental torture of the worst kind, fo r we mo stl y are gregarious and find i t very diffi cult to be otherwise as human beings.

It isn't so harsh when yo u have grown in to adulthood, although even then to be sent to Cove ntr y by yo ur fellow workers can and does cause menta l illnes s.

Usually in our schoolboy 1tales th e victim does an heroic act that acquit s h im of the ostracism. But such acts are not always to hand in real life .

ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID - BUT NEVER THE BRIDE?

Part 7 by W.O.G. Loft s

I t shou ld be explained thall Jong before 1919, William H. Back had been deservedly prom oted to EdHorial Director, now having a group of papers under him wh ic h inc lud ed Union Jack, Sexton Blak e Library, Boys' Fri end Librar y , and The Nelson Lee Librar y, each periodical having its own edHor. By now the man in charg e of the latter was Harold Robert Ma y - a former newspaperman. Born at Lamb eth i n 1891 he had att ende d Dulwi ch College - where P. G. Wodehous e went, and, at a mu ch later date, Bob Monkhouse, and our own C.D . subscr iber Denis Gifford . Now Haro ld May was competen t enough, but very easy going, in fact too easy going as he was rega rded as something of a butt: by hi s fellow ed it ors. Edwy Searles Brooks on th e other hand had quite a st rong person~lity, and co uld be dogm at ic at ti mes in gettlng his own way in thing s. As thing s turned out, Edwy had almost a free hand in what stories were written; in fact he nev er wrote bett er than in the per iod under Ha ro ld May . In 1925 he penned what [ would term the gr eate st mystery scho ol series of a l l ti me, 'The Ezra Qu i rke' ser ies (542 -549) wh ich was really clever, and showed what talent he had in the mystery

and detective field. Around 1922 William H. Back who was stil l at the prime of

l i fe died suddenly abroad, and P. Montague Hayd on too k over his responsibilities . ' Monty', as he was affectionately known, had like 'Willy Back ' worked his way up from office boy . During the First World War he had served as a Major, winning the M.C. 'Monty ' a lso had a reputation of being a fairly easy man to deal with - as long as editor's paper s had a healthy circulation. On the other hand, if a paper starting ailing he wanted to know th e reason why, and quick ly suggested ways o f bringing it up to scratch . Around ear ly 1926, and for reaso ns unknown, The Nelso n L ee Library starte d to drop in circu lation. Whether th e novelty had worn off of a school/ detective flavour, or it s greatest riva ls The Magnets and Gem were Just t he mor e popular one cannot be sure . But what happened, simply, was that Harold May was removed from his post as edito r, and replaced by Alfred Edgar . According to Edw y Searles Brook s, May 'retired' - but thi s simply was not true . Offi c ial staff records held a t Fleetway House show he was still employed there till 1932.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * RAD IO BUNTER By Simon Garrett

I wonder how many of our number caugh t th e radio play B11 l y Blint.er's Chr i st mas Party on December 15th?

I tuned in with some misgvings, fearing a. f)arody. Instead , the one - hour p lay turned out to be a fa i thfu l, Lf ab r idged , version

of the 1949 Skilton hardback . To me this is one of the best of the hardbacks, with Bunter enticing the Famous Five a:nd Squiff as pay i ng guest& t o hi s Uncle Carter ' s boarding house - Tankerton Hall. Like the harpbacks generally i t has fewer Harrilton ian asides than the best Magnet se ries, and rrore dialogue, so l oses l ess in the trans i tion to t he new medi uw.

The basic plot structure was so s imilar t hat i t was easy to compare with the book as one ' l ist ened in ' , and much of the dia l ogue was virt ually unchanged. 'I'he voices were all very good, from the sneering Bounder to the de .bonair Inky, w:ith Squiff and Johrmy Bul l giv i ng us just enough of the Aussie and Yorksh i re ac cents . Anything broader would have verged on caricature. . Sensib l y , adult actors were us ed . There was none of that wei rd va riety of broken aria un.bro.ken voices that rather let down some of the ol d 'T'V ep i scdes . Onl y- one quibble here: Bob Chen;:y ' s 'Hull o , hul lo , hullo!' . I t re al ly does sound very fo r ced when you don't drop the asp i rates on the second two words.

But the rea 1 sta r was Bessie Bunter, and the delicio us sce ne where Bob Cherry bad to escort her f rom the railw- dy sta ti on was give n full va l ue . Bessie on the radio was a far more precocious character, constantly trying to manoeuvre Bob under the mistletoe , but this aspect was hand l ed in an extremely i nnocent and

good- na tured way, and I feel sure that Mr. Hamilton would not have disapproved . The ori ginal nove l had various topica l references:

Food Controllers, petrol rationing , liubert Tanke.r:ton ' s plight as an impoverished ex - off i ce r . These wer e cmnitted, probably r i ghtly . They would have been confus i ng to many people , and added litt le .. Fotunately , there was no attempt to replace them wi t h modern topics, nor was any of the slang opiated , and t.he u..meless un iv erse of Greyfr i ars was br illi antly susta in ed .

Perhaps it is unfair to com_par,e ' Radio Bunt er ' with the televis ion series . 'rhe latter ....ere sc r eened i n the early days of the medium and television has more pi tfalls , notably in casting. Still, rad i o seems to me the better way , and it seems odd that the BBC took about six decad es to di scover Bunter . Magnet reade rs must have formed a siz eab le part of the 1930s radio audience . Anyway , they ' ve b r oken the i r duck at last , so let ' s hope they'll conti nue the innings .

(&liter ' s ccmnen ts: B.B. C. Radio nepeated th i s broadcast a few day s after th e or i ginal transmission. It was nicely timed, as Christmas EVe 198 6, of course, was the t wenty-fifth anniversary of Charles Hamil ton ' s death .. A tribu t e to him by me was publis hed i n the December 17th issue of :PUNCH. )

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

' .

A) . :, . ~ . - ..

CLIFF HOUSE CORNEil

' .

- ~ · By MARGER Y WOODS

A few anag ra ms from the Fourth For m --- but there's an invader a mong them ·:

l. Zea l mad e Jin her Rio. 2. Shadow or torr. 3. C IA' s Mar mit e Jars . 4. Shun Ha rmer gri m sea je t. 5. Bell Nyman. 6. Vyll An Caner . 7. Norra oil candy sk at e.

(The solut ions will be given in our Marc h issue .)

m O R C O V E -1Jkl.4&e, .Jnuide.1v In IC Tl ID i:c; ~\r ---1/)MMV _KEE: N

~ I I I I .-. I ~ I 1, .._ -' -.J · - · · • · r

l wonder if we alt have our own spec ia l favo ur ite characters the ma gazines we still love to drool over, featuring t he schools

which fired our ima ginat ion so long ago - Greyf r iars, St. Jim's, Rookwood, St. Frank ' s, and the tw o well known establi shment s which housed the gir ls of Cliff House and Morcove .

l know I have m ine. Regar ding the boy s, Reg ina ld Talbot of St . J fm 's is, for me, my favourite character of all, but long before I had eve n heard of Ta lbo t , or read th e sto ri es of Tom Merry & Co., and Har ry Wharton and his chums, l had become great ly attached to a c harac t er appea rin g in T he SCHOO LGI RLS' OWN, which my sis ter bought , and r ead avi dly every Tue sday . Rather gr udgingly she would al low me t o look at th is delightfu l lit tle paper, two or three days after she had finished with it , and so 1 became acqua inted with Betty Barton, Polly Linton, and the other girls of Mor cove Schoo l. But one character in particular became an immediate favo ur i te with me, and remained so for as long as I co ntinu ed to read the SCHOOLGIRLS ' OWN. Th e gi r l wa s Madge Minden!

What a lovely, quaint old fashione d Ch r istian name, but Madge was a very popular name way, way back .

Af ter Polly Lin to n became Betty Barton's first loyal friend, a mood y, rather t emperam ent a l girl was in tr oduc ed int o the stories, not a new girl , but one who had remain ed in the backgro und. Thi s wa s Madge Minden, and she was to beco me one of Bett y 's closest chum s.

Madge, however, when she was f i rst introduce d into the stories, was rat her a com plex girl, passiona tel y interested in music, even to the extent of breaking bounds ro v isit th e Theatre in Barncombe (Morc ove 's near est town) , where "Carmen" was be ing perfor med. Be tt y and Poll y (nobl y o f course) also break bounds to meet t he wayward Madg e. T heir fri endship the n became eve n closer .

T hrough the yea rs howev er , the moody temperament subsided,

and she became known as the musical genius of Morcove, beco;ning rather stai d and sedate, but w ith occasional displays of fine detective work in solving some of th e many mysteries whi ch w ere always occuring (as in SCHOOLGILR 'S OWN No. 134 - ''Th anks to Madge Mind en") .

Madge f ea tu red in one early series, when she was due to be expelled (quite wrongly of co urse), and in the final story of the ser ies, her father and mother arrived at Mor co ve. In further sto r ies through the years, Mr . Minden was always described as

Madge' s widow er fath er. Th is series was issued in No. 58 of the SCHOOLGIRLS ' OWN

Libra ry - "The Girl Morcove Misjudged" . During th e first Christmas holidcJy ser ies, she was introduced

Lo Polly Lint on's brother Jack, at L inton Hall, where the spe nding the holiday. (Imm ed iately, a rather special began between Madge and Jack, which was to last SCHOOLGI RLS' OWN finished in 1938.)

girls were friendship until the

This was an exciting seri ,es, wit h Madge becoming one of the leadi ng characters, as she, and her schoo l chum Tess Trelawney were kidn apped by Moorish people, and whisked off to North Africa . The y were of course rescued, and from then on Madge and Tess beca me a twoso me, sharing t he same study at Morcove, whi ch previous ly Madge had shared with another gir l , Tr ixie Hope. As Madge was drawn to music, Tess was to art.

Madg e Minden featured in many fine series {and yea r s ago, when as a schoolboy, I wrote to 'Marjori e Stanto n' , 'she ' replied say ing that Madge and Tess we re two of ' her ' favourite ch ara c ters), and in one series, Madge's father dec ided that she was too taken up with music, and that it would be of litt le use to her when she

left Morcove. To prove to him that music coul d be a career, Madge advertises for paying pup i ls (much to the derision of Cora Grandways & Co., the snobs of the Fourth Form).

Madge proves her point, when a 'st ep-cl eaner' pupil, th rough Madge:s tuition, become s a brilliant pianist.

When, in the mid 1920::i, aft e r the vi sit of Jemima Car srair s with her smart shimgled hair, alm ost th e entire school surrend ered their long tresse s to th e hairdr esser s' scissor s, Madg e remain ed an ind ividual by keeping her own hair long and a lw ays neatl y t ied bac k with a bow of ribbon.

A well drawn chara c ter was Madg e Mind en, c lever , attr ac tiv e, and a good spon swoman , who, at the drop o f a hat , could compo se a brilliant musi ca l scor e for any o f th e Christm as pantomin es per formed annual ly at Mor cov e.

Possessing man y of th e qua liti es o f Reginald T a lbot of St. Jim' s, and Tom Redwing of Grc yfriar s, Madge Minden, with th ese tw o boys, rn ade a trio of whom J never tired.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ODDS & ENDS

T HE ERfC FAYN E COLUMN

l met with a little mystery in the run up to Chrf stmas . re ce iv ed a lett e r which did not bear t he addre ss of the sender . The enve lope was postmarked Kelso, and the letter was signed "Jim". The writer said very kindly how much he a lw ays enjoyed C.D. , and added that he had been a loyal reader sl net? Number 14. Which meant he had been a read er for a very long time. But who was he?

We hav e a great man y "J ims" among our loyal readers, but, searching my f il es, I could not trace any reader at Kelso . I should particularly have li ked to have writt en t o him, for he mentioned that he had suffer ed a severe stroke in August, and was, in fact, sti II in hospital. It may, of cou rse, have been that the hospital was in Kelso.

I thank Jim for writing, and hope he wi II writ e me again giving me his addres s. I hope yo u wi II soon be fit and wel I aga in, Jim .

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** SALE: ANNUMS: Dandy , Beano, Knockout, Radio Fun , Fi lm F1m, 1950 ' s , a fe w pre -war . Filrn i\!1nuals (p r e - war ) . Comic s a nd Ei lm magazi nes , Qai: ly rare Wal t Disney items . Many other items. Larry Morl ey , 76 St. Margar e t ' s ROQd, Hanwel l , Lor\do n, W1 2HF. Tel: 01 579 314 3

THE PRINCESS SNOWEE'S CORNER

An un u sua l thing happened to Iru=- over Chr istma s . My man went a way for the whole night on Christmas Day, a nd I was left a lo ne . It was the very first t ime e ver that my man has le f t me for th,e nig h t. For a lo ng time he wouldn ' t agree to go, but at last he did .

I was a .blt worn.eel, but it tu .rned out a.1.1 n. gm:, ana t quit e enjoyed i t . Some nice human peop l e who li ve i n a country calle d Necksdore came in a good many times to put down fresh food and drink for me, so I ha d a good tuck i n.

I ofte n go hunt i ng in t h e land s of Necksdo re, and the n i ce h l.11T1ill1s don ' t mind a bi t . And whil e I was alone i they kept l ook in g me u_g, tickling me, and saying nice things to me like "Ar e;n ' t you a beauty !" The y are ve ry truthfu l folk .

And, of course, I have my own door so I can go in .and out if l. want to. My man l eft the hea t on all over t.he hous e , so it was not bad at a 11 .

When my man came back on Box ing Day eveni ng I ga ve h im a g l are. In £act , I was quite catty. Md I sulked a b it , to sh ow him who makes the decisions in my home.

8ut , secxet l y , i t was n't bad at all. And I've had some nice lette r s fran readers' pe t s , i nc l ud i ng one from MEih itabel Hunt of Sevenoa ks. She li ves with nic e humans who came from Australi a .

* * * * * * * * * * * * * • * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

THE POS1rMA·N CALLED

JACK MUR TAGH (Hast ings, New Zealand): We would all be Jost without the C.D . poppin g in our Jetter- boxe s each month, and as one of the or iginal subscr ibers I would fee l par t o f my lif e was cut off if it didn't turn up. I have every issue of the C. D.' s and Annuals from No . l, over 40 ye ar s without a miss. Th e f ir st issue is in fron t of me now - Nove mber 1946. Price one shil lin g. I noti ce the pr ice went up t o one shilling and a penny with issue N o. 2. A penny for postage. A far cry from pri ces and wages toda y.

S. KALAMUOKJS (Narwee , Australia): Disapp oi nt ed not t o see any ment ion of 80 years of St. J im' s -(viz . 1906-19 86)- Char les Hamilton' s

oldest and gr eate st school . However , co ngratulations on you r Rub y

Jubil ee, and l()ng may th e mag a;,:in e co ntinu e.

STANLE Y A . PACHON (Bethle hem, U.S.A .): I have al l the C.D. 's and

I bel ieve l started with the second year. I alwa ys had a keen int erest

in the Engiish Story Papers. As I 1ook over 1.vhat is off e-red to juvenil e readers today, I have to shake my head at wha t they have

mi ssed. Televi sion will never replace the old time publication s -

for me at lea st.

JOH N GOCHER (Sudbur y ): I was very interested to read your co m

ment s with regard to Her bert Leckenby and the la unching of th e

C. D. I remember when Mau r ice Bond seemed to take a dislik e lO

John Hun te r' s Sex ton Blakes , sayi ng such t hi ngs as "Wh y does t his

washout writ e?". Per sonall y, Hunt er was one of my favourit es and

s ti II is fo r th aL matter . Ove r the ye ars I have enjoye d ev ery issue of CD. I t started

in humble circumstances and now has obtai ned a pla ce of honour

among all am ateu r publi ca tio ns. Good luck to iL; long may it cont

inue. Fo r years I have been tryi ng Lo obtai n copies of th e Tar get

Det ec ti ve Li brary and also t he C. I.D. Library, but have neve r been

able to obtain one title . Ma ybe some day! Co ngratul ations on th e

An nu al . l hav e enjoy ed it so muc h. I t hi nk i t gets bette r every

ye ar an d, without i t , Chr ist m as would not be th e same. I'd rat her

mis s t he tu rk ey .

BILL WATSON (Walton -o n-Naze): I wonder i f anyo ne can hel p me

by g ivin g me th e exac t title of a film about th e man - made airport

fl oat in g in the sea bet ween Engla nd and the U.S.A. lt was set in

t he yea r s befo re plane s were big enough to t ravel non-stop betw een

the co untrie s. T he tit le of the f i lm was "Fl oat ing Plat form .. . " fol

lowed by a numb er. Ca n anybody t e ll me what that number was,

to compl ete the title ? I should lik e to pur c hase a co py o f the film.

JO E C ONROY (Liverpool): r read with interest Br ia n Sayers ' article

in th e Oc t. C. D. on t he Big Tops . Th en, re ading Ern est Hol man' s

artic le in the Nov . C.D . re the Bunt e r hardba cks set me thinking.

Fra nk Ri cha rds appeared to lov e th e circ us - he wrote enough stories

about th em. Yet, in all t he Bunter hard backs, as far as I know

- and I have a ll o f t hem - t here is not one c ir cus story. I wond er

if he had j t in mind to write one, but le ft iL t oo lat e. We'll never

know .

f. STURDY (Middlesborough): It is rather ominous that we have the title "Good-bye to Greyfriars" for the latest of the Baker facsimiles. None of the iss ues inc lud ed seem t o give ri se to such a title on which to hang a vo lum e. 1 hope that l am, indeed, wrong. Another point. It is passing strange to me the importance given to the inciusi on of a dust-jacket in rhe saie ot oooks. it seems to mak e such a difference in t he final cost . If a book was important to me, the text would be the saleable point. I suspect that, like pain t ing s, books are now becom:ing invest men ts for the future . Like the ''Let's Be Controversial" airticles (and I deplore the irregularity of their appearan ces) , it's just rny point of view. What's yours?

PAUL GALVIN (Barnsley) : November saw t he 40th Anniversary of "Collectors' Dig est" and December tbe 40th Annual. During th ese two months I also comp leted my own collectio n of C.D.'s and Annuals, and I would like to thank everybody who was so kind to reply to my adverts and help me complete my col lect ion.

I have been subscribing to the C.D. for only about 2 years, so my knowledge of the hobby is limite d - but just think of the pleasure I have to come reading these past years of the C.D. for the first time. Many thanks for thi s year 's ( 1986) issues, and the Annual which was a Christmas treat .

ESMOND KADlSH (Hendon): A lovely 'Annual' this year - as always, of course! Amongst other delights were Coker and Cardew, and I learned quite a lot about William's creator , Richmal Crompton. What is left of my hair rose dutiful ly on end when I read about the Cliff House spooks, and I cheated only once in solving Bob Whiter's Rookwood puzzle! r a.lso ponder ed on why Mr. Buddle should want to hide his GEM inside The Times (personally, I think The Times shou ld be firmly fo lded up and hidden within the GEM!), and I'v e firmly resolved never to be found guilty of plagiarism in 1987. Seriously, it was a most enjoyable and attractive-looking Annual.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "B ERT " HOLMES of 8 St. Luke's Avenue, Barrow - in-furness; thanks all C.D. friends who kindly sent him cards at Christmas time . He was unable to rep ly, owing to having been in hospital for an operat ion , but he deeply appreciated the kindly thoughts. He sends his Best Wishe s for th e New Year to all friends .

,

.t"'""'.;t.~· .• ,, . ... , .... ~,, ,,:':'~ - ····~ 'f:· ~~ ·-7~:!,:

' I NEWS OF THE OLD BOYS BOOK CLUBS I ~ I ,·:~~·: ~-· .·.,._-,.

.···~ ~:!:!i:x:,. ...,._ ____ ._i / , . . ,i.,l.~.

CAMBRIDGE O.B.B.C. The Cambridge Club met on Sunday, 4th January, 1987, al'.

the home of Adrian Perkins. Apologies were recejved from Chairman Vic . Hearn and from Bil l Lofts. In the absence of the chairman Edward Witten was in the chair.

The C lub learned with great regret of the resignation of Eric Fayne from the editorship of the Collectors' Digest, and recorded their appreciation of his long and devoted work in that office. They welcomed with very great pleasure the news that his successor wou ld be Mary Cadogan, to whom they wished a long and happy term as Editor.

Paul Wilkins opened the programm e with a long, and hilarious presentation of a film on "Those Saturday Morning Serials" of the past, that reminded the older members of the past glorie s of the silver screen before the "box" became to rep lace it in our homes. Howard Corn foJlowed this i tem with a recording of an exhib i tion of boys' and girls' papers, cover ing a wide section of this side of the hobby.

After enjoy ing Mrs. Perkins delicious tea Keith Hodkinson gave a se lection of Science Fictio n films from the Cinema. His long, and entertaining show included scenes from "Venusian", "First Men in the Moon", "The first Moon shots", "Star Wars", "Capricorn one", "Meteor'', and "Westworld".

The meet ing closed with warm votes of thanks to Adrian and Mrs. Perkins for their hospitality, and to Paul, Howard and Keith for their entertaining items •.

The next meeting of the Club will be on 1st February at the home of Tony Cowley.

W. THURBON

LONDON O.B.B.C.

Indispositions and inclemen t weather conditions curtailed the attendance at the Walthamst ow meeting to sixteen members. However it was a very convivia l gathering. There were only three items .... ,., t-ho .::,nt-ort,:,inmcnt drlo nf thP m or.>ti nac: I oc: Rnu,l ,;," a~n,p :::i rP:::irli nu VJI l,;1 1~ \..o-11\,A J L l,..V•tl,IIJVl t !o. •Jt.U-V VI._. _.. .. ..._.. t••'-'.._, '-"' '•t,'-' • .._, __ .,, l"- V •Y•"'-'J o-• - :;.., •-'--•·•o

f ram one of his Chri stmas effusions, Bi 11 Lofts rendered a very fine discourse on the way the juvenile characters of the o ld books have been brought up-to-date somewlhat and this provoked a lively discus sion. The many parodies of the characters were mentioned including th e Herlock Sholmes and th e St. Sam's stories in the Greyfriar s Herald .

Roy Parsons gave a very good trea t ise on P. G, Wodehou se and his connection with the Captain magazine . Roy has now completed hi s collection of the entire 50 volumes of that exce l lent boys' magazine of our youth.

Chr is and Duncan Harper rend ere d sterling work in the kitchen and provid ed a very fine tea. The y were suitably thanked and an early term ination of the meeting took p lace fo r those who had a long way to go hom e.

Next meeting is the A.G.M . at the Libera l Hal l, Ealing on Sunday? 8th February. Tea will be provided but bring own tuck .

BEN WHITER

NORTHERN 0 .B.B.C REPORT

Meeting held: Saturday, 10th January, 1987

The fir st bad night of th e winter result ed in our having only nine of our regular s turning up but we were delighted to welcome three vis i tors (and hopefully m?w members) - Adrian Sacks and his fourteen year old daughter from llkley: Pau l Savion who had made th e long journey fr om Kingston - upon- Hull.

Keith Smith was indi sposed , so Darre l l took the Chair for our A.G.M . which had been brought forward thre e month s as we had a number of important items to discuss. The positions are all held by the same peopl e for a further yea r, except for one ve ry important change. After many years as Librarian and Treasurer, Mollie Alli son felt it was now time to relinquish the job s to some one else. Paul Galvin is our new Librar ia n and Rev d. Geoffre y Good is our Trea surer.

Mollie wa s given a hear ty round of applause for all the hard work she has put in t o the Club over the years .

Ex pressio ns of de li ght were made by Memb ers when the y found

that our own Co- Pr esident and edito r of th e C.D ., M ary Cadogan,

would be com ing t o our meeti ng in March and p lans wer e made for

tentativ e arrangements . Re fere nce was mad e to th e 25t h Anniversary of the death of

Char les Hamilton at Ch r ist mas, 1986, and the fact that very little

co mm ent had been made about it. A sma i i piece had appeared in

"The Ti mes" . (Editor ' s com ment : And a tribute by me in PUNCH!)

Paul Galv i n paid trib ut e to all the hard work of Er ic Fayne,

with a ta lk on the hi story of the C.D . Menti on was made of the

fa m ous Numb er 3A and the editi on in whi ch the first Nor the rn C lub

report appeared , and o f ot her interesting points fr om notable ar ticle s

of the past. JOHNNY BULL MINOR

****************** ***** * ******* TOM BROWN AND GREYFRIARS by E. Bald ock

Re ce ntl y l discover ed in the corner of one of my shelve s a

small gree n vo lum e, long overlooke d. I t was an edition of 'T om

Brown's Schooldays', a reprint of 1894. It ls ascribed on the titl e

page as being by 'An Old Boy' , a custom which Thomas Hughe s and

many othe r Victorian authors wer e prone to adopt for vari ous r easons.

'To m Brown' alo ngsid e 'Sandford and Merton' probably signal the

beg inn ing of th e great tide of Public School literatu re whi ch followed.

T races o f them may be found in much th at followe d in this new

field. Fashions may change, but the spirit remains much the same.

Li f e was perh aps a little toug her, and d isci plin e somewhat more

str ingent i n applicat ion in Tom Brown's day, yet I suspect it was

none the less en jo yable fo r that. Did not the system produce some

ve r y illu str ious cha r acters? It is evident by looking at the splendid

gallery of soldiers, administrato rs, pol itica l leaders, and many great

Empire builder s, who were initially inspired by thei r training with

a spir it which t oday we may well envy . In George Wingate, the Captain of Greyfr iars we can surely tra ce

ec hoes and connotations with 'go od o ld Brooke' and has not Gera ld

Loder and possi bly Carne inherited some of the character istic s of

the incor rigibl e f lashman? Th ere are in fact, should one care to

st ud y them, many facet s of th e Rugby of the mid and late nineteenth

ce ntur y reflect ed in the Gr ey friar s we know to day - eve n down,

in t he earl y day s, to th e me thod of infl icting the occasional flogging

by hoisting the v icti m upon the shou lders of th e school porter . A

tradition and practice now happily defu nct. Many of the Junior comrnon room activiti es must be in sta ntly

recognised. The nature and pastimes of boys change but little over the years. Arguments, tussles, japes, teasing - NOT however any rr1ore 'roasting'. One, does not read of a Bunter at Rugby in Tom Brown's ti mes; sure ly there must have been some juni or who would have qualified - not in any way in the same league with our own William George, who is unique, but a lesser model. Our Bunter burgeoned forth as a 'one off' type of character, neither preceeded nor li kely t o be fo l lowed by another such. Minor edit ions t here may be, but only one 'Owl'.

Certain simi larities may be traced by the use of a little imag in ation betwe en Tom and East wi t h Harr y Wharton and Fr ank Nugent. Both pairs are dr awn together by instincts and ci rcumstances which swiftly dev e loped into permanent fri endships, East and Nugent having many facets of sympathy and forbearence towards their somet im es less pati ent companions .

Whether th e Rugb y of Tom Brown's day possessed a Mr. Quelch or a Paul Pontifex Prout is not clear; this is somewhat shadowy territory . Possi bly they did exist in a minor form, but as ripe and round ed characters l th in k Gr ey friar s hold s th e palm in this respect. Crust in ess and pomposity side by side . Yet who would say that they lacked popul ar ity or the affection and loyalty of t heir charges - a strange paradox.

The life of Tom Brown ' s Rugby ce rtainl y survive s in the old quadrangle and form-rooms of Greyfriars, modified to a degree and perhap s a little more civilised, but in essence much the same.

A final thought. What would Tom Br own, Brooke, Flashman or indeed the 'Old Boy ' hims el f have th ought and said had it been, by some magi c process, revealed to them that a ce nt ury henc e Publi c Schoo ls would be admitting t o thei r ranks members of the opposite sex? One quakes t o think what would hav e been the reac tion of the great Dr. Arno1d . Happil y for us, Grey friar s wil I remain forever a mal e preserve . Imagine poor Mr. Que lch having the control and jurisd ic tion of young ladie s. No , it would just not do. And Horace Coker , although a perfect gent leman, would have, we ma y be sure, very strong feelings concerning such an incursion into male pre serves. It is daunting to cont emplate the endless tirade s the long suffering Potter and Green would be subj ec t ed to. With William George Bunter it would of course be qui te differ en t. Ever con vin ce d th at he is t he ultimate as a 'ladie s man' he would probabl y swell to burs ti ng

point and beco me co mpl etely insuff erabl e should such an innovation

ever occ ur. A fatuous Owl is one thing - a lady - kil lin g Owl is quite

ano th er, whi ch would be totally unacce ptable . A s fo r Tom Brown

and hi s cont emporaries, probabl y not in their wilde st dreams did

t hey envisag e such a revo luti on.

(Editor ' s Note: There was that wonderful early series about girls at Greyfriars

when the Cliff House Fourth Formers had temµ:,raril y to share the Renove ' s fot:rn

rcxxn - and form -master. Clara and her chums nearly drov e Mr . Quelc h to despair ,

which under li nes Mr. Baldock ' s point ! )

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * AWAY MATCHES - AT ROOKWOOD By J .F. Burrell

With reference to the location of Rookwood School , mantioned i n the January

C. D. by Ernest Holman , in one story Charles Hamilton placed the school in Sussex ,

but whethe r this was a matter of co nvenie nce or a slip of the pen i s hard to

say . The school was , however , gene r ally considered to have been in Hampsh ire

and evei, i.f one placed Rookv.ood at the nost eastern extremities of Hampshire

in th e Aldershot a re a or at t)nsv,0rth ( between Chi chest er and Portsmouth) , it

was still a lon g way fo r a Greyfr iar s team to go Lo matche s .

Supposing Rookwood to be in the Aldershot area , for an all day game of

cricket one could get there for a l at e morning start by arriving at North Camp

at ll. 42 a .m. This meant getting to Ashford (son~ 25 miles away) for 8 . 35 a . m.

Supposing i t , on the other hand , to be at flnsworth one had to be at Ashf ord even

earlier (at 8 . 20 a .in . ) and Emsi.orth =uld no t be reached until 12 . 18 p . m. Desp ite

what Mr . Holnan suggests , trains were much slo,;..,er , and the Coast Lines fran

Hast in gs to Por ts rrouth were not e lectrified untll 1938, ne arl y at the end o f

the Magnet era . For these journeys i t is doubtful if Gosling would have approved of ringing

the ri sing be ll earlier fo r • them young rips '. A road journey to Ashford would

have been out of the question , as Charles Hamilto n was still con veying teams

to l ocal match es in horse brak es . He would probably make things even nore

impossible as he had no idea as to what time al 1 day matches sta rted. Ther:e

are instance s of Mr . Lascelles playing i n a county match that started at 10

a . m. ! As for Bunter , assuming that he could not wangle the morning o ff, and i t

is a pretty f air assumption , ho,., would he get on? He l;K)uld arrive at North Camp,

at 5 . 21 , alnost too late for tea , and at Emsworth at 8.09 p.m . (just i n time

for su pper if anyone was prepared to ob lige) .

Bib li ograohy: Bradshaw ' s Timetable Surrmer 1928 .

* * * *

A ST. FRANK'S "NUGGET" By Leslie S. Laskey

Mr. C.H. Churchill's recent articles on the stories of St. Frank's prompt me to comment on one uncommon feature of the short-lived "Nugget Weekly". This attractive little paper printed both cover

• • ...1 ..... L .... .- ~--- i..,, .. - ... _,..., ill1,eo•t6~t-in.nc in ~ f111I r~naA nf p1ccures, anu c1l~V 0V -111C lllt..Ca u ·a1 lJJUVI.I Cl~IVIJ"'1' J.H V 1'4& & • ~uc,.......- ~&

colours, an unusual venture for an Amalgamated Press juvenile paper at that time (1920). The five colours used were red, orange, yellow, blue and green. The St. Frank's story illustrations in these colours made a striking contrast with the usual black and wh i te drawing s.

This five colour process was almost identical to that used by Cassell's for the front and back cover pictures in their weekly paper "The New Boy's World" as long ago as 1906.

Mr. Churchill posed the question of why the Editor of th e "Schoolboy's Own Library" selected the story "The Great Fire at St. Frank's" as the first Nelson Lee Library tale to be reprin te d, when there were numerous earlier stories which might have been used.

I would suggest that the story of the great fire might have been chosen becau se of its dramatic impact. This was one of the earliest St. Frank's stories I ever read, for the "Nelson Lee" had been before my time, and I can well remember the impact tha t Edwy Searles Brooks's vivid description of the disastrous fire made on me at the time.

After such drama and excit ement, was eager to read more of Mr. Brooks's stories.

Perhaps there were many other boys who felt the same way? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FROM R. V. MOSS (New Zealand)

'Bray' - a reply to Len Wormull's question in 'The Postman Called':

January C.D.

The word 'Bray' as used in Proverbs (A. V.) seems to be of old Fren ch origin. It means to pound - grind small. Hence - to pound the mortar. This is one of those occasions where a modern version of the Bible has its use. The N.E.B. makes the meaning clear:-

'pound a fool with pestle and mortar his fol ly will never be knocked out of him'

F.dited by Mary cadogan, 46 Overbury Avenue , Beckenham, Kent . Printed by York Duplicating Serv i ces, 7 Grape Lane, Petergate, York, YOl 2HT. Tel. York 25148

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